Sundays & Mondays

So, it's 2:41 am and I'm still not asleep, so I decided to write you all and give the rundown of Mary in the UK.
I must admit, it's been a bit slow here, due to the fact that I have 2 classes a week, no social life, and I'm running out of tourist attractions.
My schedule usually starts around 3:30-4:30 am, when I fall asleep. (I don't know why--it's just how it works out here.) I wake up around 10:30-11:30 am and then I get out of bed around 12:30. I shower, clean my room, write a little, do some laundry if it's a Wednesday, and then walk into town to pick up a few sandwiches--(there's a place called Pret here that makes the BEST caprese and I think they're starting to notice the daily drop-ins.) After grocery shopping, I go to a class if it's a Tuesday or Thursday, but usually, I just take the bus back home because I don't like walking in the dark...and it's usually getting close by then because I don't leave my dorm until at least 1:30...(see timeline above.) I listen to music or audiobooks constantly, but find that I don't do a lot of talking out loud throughout my day unless I run into a flatmate in the kitchen and am forced into awkward conversation.
I eat, I edit my writing, I check Facebook ten times more than I've ever checked it in the last three years, and I watch a lot of online TV--onto season 5 in Bones...and I like it. I do this all in bed hoping that I'll get a bit drowsy and possibly nod off before the 3 am mark...but since I've been here, it hasn't happened. I'm currently looking for a job, or at least a volunteer project that will take up some of this time, but so far, nothing, so fingers crossed!
This makes Sunday and Monday especially exciting for me because these are the days I get to go into the real town. Sister Winn and I train in and then tube to the South Kensington Station to go to church. Church has been nice. It's in a tall building and houses several wards, so it's slightly confined--as in the chapel and gym are separated by a curtain wall. Makes sacrament interesting when the other ward is hosting their church basketball tournament next door...or so it sounds.
The people are very friendly and there's a good spirit about the young single adult group which is great because I get the practice talking to other people that I lack throughout the rest of the week.
Monday's are my favorite though, because I make the same trip into London, (minus Sister Winn--poor thing has class on Mondays--the idea!), and take the day to see whatever I want. These are the trips I usually report on: The Tower, Kensington Palace, Harrods, museum after museum after museum... I spend the day exploring--usually at greatexpense to my poor feet--pick up Indian food at this place Kate told me about--they also welcome me as a regular, or their only customer-- and then I go to FHE at the church building. Never been so grateful for YSA activities. It makes for a late night, but evens out my week a bit.
This Monday, I'm headed to either Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, or something else...
Last Monday, I headed towards the London Zoo, but was sidetracked when I got lost, found the scariest looking old abandoned hospital, and ended up running into Regents Park. It was a remarkably nice day and the park was SO pretty, that I decided to spend my day there.
In the middle of the park is Queen Mary's Garden, where there are about 330 different kinds of roses--absolutely beautiful, and smelled wonderful--Grandma O. would've liked it. Of course afterwards, I walked through town, passed crowds of tourists filing into Madame Tussuad's, looked down on them like a local, and made a mental note to return some day with a friend so I can get a picture with a famous wax person. I picked up my Indian take out and may have inadvertently flirted with my cashier friend, Fez, cause he threw in a free Coke. I then headed to FHE where I was warmly welcomed into a going away party for a set of missionaries I didn't know...but cried anyway while they were saying their goodbyes.
So, that's the news so far. I think I'll take another stab at sleep-it now being 4:23 am. If you have any suggestions, (books to read, music to download, places to visit, stories to write), PLEASE send them my way! Love you all!